Multi-agent Management Research Articles

Multi-agent Oriented Policy-based Management System for Virtual Enterprise

Virtual enterprise is a temporary organization consists of some independent enterprises, aiming to share technology, cost and other resource. It is predicted to be the most important business organizational patterns in the 21st century. To up speed the development of virtual enterprise, this paper presented a policy-based multi-agent management system to simulate the manipulation of virtual enterprise. Firstly, a hierarchical policy specification is proposed to control the behavior of agent. Secondly, the detection algorithms and resolution strategies are described for the conflicts that may be brought about by hierarchical policy. Thirdly, a policy admin tool to simplify the operations of policies is presented. Each enterprise registered in this tool is assigned an agent; policies made by enterprises are executed by agents correspondingly. Subdivision of application level and representation scope of policy leads to that policy-based mechanism not only provides good system control on autonomy agents, but also ensures the flexibility of agents; and gives the solution for policy conflicts at the same time. Finally, the main characteristics of this system are discussed by an example.

A Mode of Combined ERP and KMS Knowledge Management System Construction

Abstract The core of ERP and knowledge management is quite similar; both will send appropriate knowledge (goods, funds) to the right people (position) at the right time. It is reasonable to believe that increase the knowledge management system in ERP will help companies achieve their goals better. This paper compares the concept of logical point of hall three-dimensional structure of the knowledge management system and the ERP in methodology level. And found they are very similar in the time dimension, logic dimension and knowledge dimension. This laid the basis of methodology in the simultaneous planning, implementation and applications. And then proposed a knowledge-based ERP Multi-Agent Management System Model. Finally, the paper described the process from planning to implementation of knowledge management ERP system with multi-Agent interaction and impact from three concepts, management thinking, software and system.

A Multiagent-Based Hybrid Power Control and Management of Distributed Power Sources

In this paper, a multi-agent control system for DC-coupled photovoltaic (PV), fuel cell (FC), ultracapacitor(UC) and battery hybrid power system is studied for commercial buildings & apartment buildings microgrid. In this proposed system, the PV system provides electric energy to the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen for future use and transfer to the load side, if possible. Whenever the PV system cannot completely meet load demands, the FC system provides power to meet the remaining load. A multi-agent system based-power management and control algorithm is proposed for the hybrid power system by taking into account the characteristics of each power source. The main works of this paper are hybridization of alternate energy sources with FC systems using long and short storage strategies to build the multi-agent control system with pragmatic design, and a dynamic model proposed for a PV/FC/UC/battery bank hybrid power generation system. A dynamic simulation model for the hybrid power system has been developed using Matlab/Simulink, SimPowerSystems and Stateflow. Simulation results are also presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed multi-agent control and management system for building microgrid.

Multi-Agent Tool Management in the Manufacturing of Aircraft Engines

A Multi-Agent Tool Management System (MATMS) for automatic tool procurement in a supply network was developed and implemented. The MATMS realization involved the engineering design of an agent system that operates in the framework of a negotiation-based multiple-supplier network where an aircraft engine producer (buyer) requires from external tool manufacturers (sellers) the purchase of new cubic boron nitride (CBN) grinding wheels and the performance of dressing operations on worn-out CBN grinding wheels for turbine blade fabrication. The main purpose of the MATMS is the optimized tool management for nickel-based alloy turbine blade grinding while operating in a supply environment made uncertain by external tool manufacturers providing unreliable tool delivery time responses.

Development of a multi-agent management system for an intelligent charging network of electric vehicles

AbstractThis paper addresses the modelling and simulation of a battery charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, with the objective of pro-actively scheduling the charging of up to fifty vehicles so as not to overcharge the electrical network. Benefits of having the charging stations differ (as much as possible while satisfying end-user requirements) battery charging for those hours when electricity consumption is otherwise low include rendering electricity consumption more uniform along the day. A multi-agent system was used to design a distributed, modular, coordinated and collaborative multi-agent management system for this infrastructure. Simulation results show the effectiveness of this approach under the conditions of four real-life scenarios.

Multi-agent Production Monitoring and Management System for Textile Materials and Its Applications

To improve management level of the textile factory, achieve real-time monitoring of production process of textile materials, and realize on-line management of the comprehensive information as well as to solve the problem of data isolation within the local area network, a new multi-agent production monitoring and management system for textile materials was developed. In the article, first, we analyzed the actual requirements of the textile factory, researched the weaknesses in the used monitoring systems, and proposed a production monitoring and management system model based on multi-agent. Then, we made the system collect the data in a central point, divided data into two parts (noise and use-full information), and analyzed the correlation of material data. Third, we compared the results of several data fitting, and finally decided to use B-spline function to optimize the material data. Finally, using agent technique, expert system and fuzzy control theory, we evaluated data results of the textile material. As verified by application, on being compared with the used monitoring systems, multi-agent monitoring and management system can objectively reflect production process of textile materials, achieve comprehensive management and information integration, and realize data sharing and scientific management for all of the workshops.

Disasters2.0: application of web 2.0 technologies in emergency situations

This article presents a social approach for disaster management based on a social portal called Disasters2.0, which provides facilities for integrating and sharing user-generated information about disasters. The architecture of Disasters2.0 is designed following Representational State Transfer (REST) principles and integrates external mashups such as Google Maps. This architecture has been consumed with different clients, including a mobile client, a multiagent system for assisting the decentralised management of disasters and an expert system for automatically assigning resources to disasters. As a result, the platform allows seamless collaboration of humans and intelligent agents, and provides a novel web 2.0 approach for multiagent and disaster management research.

Intelligent Tool Management in a Multiple Supplier Network

The development and implementation of an intelligent Flexible Tool Management Strategy (FTMS), based on Fuzzy Logic (FL) theory and integrated in a Multi-Agent Tool Management System (MATMS) for automatic tool procurement in a supply network, is presented. The MATMS operates in the framework of a negotiation-based, multiple-supplier network where a turbine blade producer requires dressing jobs on worn-out CBN grinding wheels from external tool manufacturers. The main characteristics of the intelligent FTMS approach is the use of fuzzy set theory to model the uncertainty associated with tool demand rate and the employment of fuzzy reasoning to expand the strategy operational flexibility in comparison with traditional tool management and previously developed crisp FTMS paradigms.

International Management Strategies for a Straddling Fish Stock: A Bio-Economic Simulation Model of the Norwegian Spring-Spawning Herring Fishery

In this paper, a three-country dynamic bio-economic simulation model is presented for the spring-spawning herring fishery. The international spring-spawning herring fishery, based on potentially one of the most valuable fish stocks in the world, is currently recovering from a severe depletion of the stock and subsequent harvesting moratorium. Management of the herring fishery is complicated by its multi-nation exploitation, due to the highly migratory behaviour of the species moving between several coastal state zones (exclusive economic zones, EEZ’s) and the high seas (Ocean Loop). Based on extensive work invested on analysing both the biology of the herring stock and the fisheries economics around its exploitation we study here the profiles of different multi-agent management schemes, simulating catch levels, stock size and profit potentials of alternative management strategies. The stock dynamics are described by a linear discrete-time age-structured population model and the economics are presented by a rent maximising model with constant price of herring catch and different costs of harvesting and efficiency levels for the different national fleets. The simulations, carried out over several decades, show that the benefits of international co-operation far exceed the returns of a competitive open access fishery.

Autonomy versus efficiency in multi-agent management of extended enterprises

Present evolution of manufacturing systems is characterized by multi-firms enterprises, often organized in multi-site networks where each firm can be managed with large autonomy. Current workflow technology does not provide the necessary functionality to model and manage such processes, mostly due to centralized structures and limited process management capabilities. In this paper some on-going efforts to approach new problems involved in distributed decoupled management architectures, based on individual autonomous agents, are presented. In particular, the scope is to verify if and when the increasing complexity of a large-scale enterprise, composed by several firms which aim to cooperate together, is going to allow a greater and greater autonomy to local decision-makers. Based on new definitions of cooperation among the agents, the opportunity of employing decoupled management architecture is analyzed, thus also giving suggestions for distributed workflow management systems.

Multi-Agent Management of Manufacturing Plants: Autonomy Versus Efficiency (Invited paper)

Present evolution of manufacturing systems is characterized by a progressive increase of the importance of knowledge-driven work in industrial plants of very large dimension. As the system complexity and the intelligent agents number grow, the system response uncertainty seems to grow also: this suggests to have greater attention to the agents intelligence. This paper first aims to verify if the increasing complexity of actual work systems is going to allow a greater and greater autonomy to individual agents. Then, taking into account that final scope of an enterprise is profit, a positive relation between global system efficiency and local agents autonomy is proved.